7 Best Microsoft Teams Alternatives & Competitors in 2024

The Best Microsoft Teams Alternatives & Competitors for Employee Communication

1. Connecteam — The best alternative to Microsoft Teams

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android

   Start for free

   

   Connecteam is an all-in-one work management and team communication platform. It enables quick and direct communication with your workforce wherever they are. Beyond team communication, Connecteam allows you to manage events, create a company knowledge base, create surveys and polls, and more.

   Let’s take a closer look at some of Connecteam’s key features. 

   Communicate in real time from anywhere with the built-in chat app

   

   With Connecteam’s highly secure built-in team chat, you can create one-on-one or group chats to communicate with team members anytime and anywhere. You’re able to send files, videos, images, audio notes, GIFs, and emojis in messages. 

   You can set custom user permissions so only the relevant people can see certain conversations. Also, users with admin status can remove any inappropriate content and ensure all chats stay on topic and professional.

   Collaborate on documents together in the knowledge base

   Connecteam enables you to create a knowledge base for your business. It provides you with a central location to upload and store company documents and other information relevant to your staff. This can include:

   • Health and safety information.
   • Employee handbooks, guidelines, and protocols.
   • Wellness and benefits information.
   • Further resources specific to your business, such as customer lists and inventory sheets.

   Employees can access any information they need at any time, from anywhere. In addition, Connecteam lets you set access permissions on files, giving you complete control over who can view or edit each document. 

   The knowledge base is also perfect for team collaboration on documents. For example, employees can work on files simultaneously, leaving comments and responding to them right from within the Connecteam app.

   Keep everyone in the loop with company-wide updates and announcements

   Connecteam’s updates feed makes it easy to keep your team members in the loop. You can share important updates and announcements with individuals, teams, or the entire company at once. 

   Connecteam will also send push notifications to employees so they don’t miss any posts. In addition, workers have control over which notifications they receive, so there’s never the risk of information overload.

   Create and manage company events stress-free

   Connecteam also enables you to create and manage company events—from team meetings and conferences to safety inspections and fun workplace outings. You can create events for your entire company or just a few people or teams. 

   You can send out event invites instantly and require employees to confirm their attendance if needed. At a glance, you can see exactly how many people to expect at an event. Employees can add comments and reactions to events and even use the built-in chat feature shortcut to talk more about events. 

   You can also set caps on the number of attendees allowed for certain events, and attendees can be automatically reminded when there’s an upcoming event.

   Gather feedback with surveys and polls

   

   With Connecteam’s polls and surveys feature, you can gather instant feedback from employees. Workers can fill out surveys and take part in polls right from the Connecteam app.

   You can quickly create customizable surveys or use one of Connecteam’s handy templates. Fill out surveys with multiple-choice, open-ended, and yes/no questions, or even ratings. You’re also able to offer anonymous surveys so workers feel more comfortable sharing their honest opinions. And with Connecteam’s live digital polls, you can get results in real time, at any time and from anywhere.

   When you publish a survey or poll, Connecteam will send push notifications to your team members’ devices asking them to complete it. You can also send automated reminders so nothing gets missed. Plus, there’s no limit on the number of surveys or polls you can create.

   Tools for improved insight and oversight

   Connecteam offers you several ways to see and measure how your employees are performing and communicating. 

   You can easily measure the impact of your communications by seeing how many team members have been reading and responding to messages and newsfeed posts. You can turn on read receipts and see engagement stats for each update you share on the company newsfeed.

   Connecteam will also show you which company documents in your knowledge base are being viewed the most and what employees are searching for. This can help you improve the documentation available to staff and show you where you should focus your attention.

   Additionally, Connecteam’s built-in employee clock-in app, which is accurate down to the second, makes it easy to see when workers have punched in and out. With the GPS location tracking feature, you can verify employees’ locations while they’re working. 

   Furthermore, Connecteam enables you to generate custom reports on things like employee attendance, labor costs, time spent on projects, and more. These give you better insight into your business operations and help you make data-driven decisions.

   And much more

   In addition to these features, Connecteam has tools for employee scheduling, paid time off (PTO) and absence management, rewards and recognition, training and onboarding, and much more. It’s a do-it-all work management system with everything you need to succeed.

   Connecteam offers a free-forever plan that covers up to 10 employees, making it perfect for small businesses. For larger businesses, Connecteam’s paid plans start at just $29/month for up to 30 users. Plus, you can try out Connecteam with a 14-day free trial. 

   Connecteam also offers a free for life plan – Get Started Now!

   Key Features

   • Secure business chat messaging

   • File, video, and audio clip sharing

   • Chat moderation

   • User-friendly apps for desktop and mobile

   • Collaborative central knowledge base

   • Customizable updates and notifications

   Pros

   • Very easy to use for both employees and managers

   • Built-in knowledge base for easy document collaboration

   • Easy to attach video and audio clips in conversations

   • Events, surveys, and polls keep employees engaged

   Cons

   • No video conferencing yet

   Pricing

   Free-for-life plan availablePremium plans start at $29/month for 30 users

   14-day free trial, no credit card required

   Start your free trial
2. 

   Zoom — Good for video conferencing

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android
   • Windows
   • Mac

   

   Zoom is a video conferencing platform for virtual meetings, webinars, and general team collaboration. It supports up to 1,000 concurrent participants in a meeting. 

   For team collaboration, Zoom supports screen sharing, text chat, meeting recording, an online whiteboard, and polls. However, Zoom focuses on video and audio conferencing. This means that while it’s fine for video meetings, it lacks many features useful for team collaboration. For example, there’s limited support for working on documents together, requiring users to collaborate on files shared using other software.

   Zoom has experienced security breaches in the past. However, its recent security record has been better.

   Learn more about Zoom

   Key Features

   • Video and audio conferencing
   • Shared whiteboard
   • Text chat
   • Polls in meetings

   Pros

   • Supports meetings with many participants
   • Free plan for meetings up to 40 minutes

   Cons

   • Limited team collaboration features
   • Poor security track record

   Pricing

   Starts at at $14.99/host/month Trial: No Free Plan: Yes

3. 

   Slack — Good for group messaging

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android
   • Windows
   • Mac

   

   Slack is a group communication and collaboration tool for keeping teams organized and connected. Slack can be used to create multiple channels, each with its own set of members. Team members can use group chats, have audio and video meetings, and send messages and files directly to each other. 

   However, Slack has a busy interface that some employees may find confusing to use. It also has limited integration with the Microsoft productivity suite, so it may not be best suited to teams that use Microsoft Office a lot.

   Learn more about Slack

   Key Features

   • Group text chat
   • Create multiple channels
   • Share files with team members
   • One-to-one audio and video chat

   Pros

   • Still works well on older computers
   • Basic free plan available

   Cons

   • Busy interface
   • Limited integration with Microsoft software

   Pricing

   Starts at $7.25/user/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: Yes

4. 

   Google Meet — Good for quick meetings

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android

   

   Google Meet is a video conferencing tool developed by Google that allows users to host online meetings, webinars, and video chats with colleagues or friends. Its features include

   screen sharing, chat messaging, and virtual backgrounds. With a paid plan, users get additional features such as video call recording, file storage on Google Drive, photo editing tools, and more.

   While Google Meet can be useful for organizing quick remote meetings, some users may find it too basic for team collaboration on more complex projects. Though it can be used with Google Workspace and Google Calendar, it doesn’t have features like annotating a shared screen or breakout rooms. The software also often requires more than 4GB of RAM to run. This can make it run slower on older hardware. 

   Learn more about Google Meet

   Key Features

   • Video and audio conferencing
   • Live stream video calls on YouTube (Premium plan only)
   • Video call recording (Premium plan only)
   • Background noise cancellation (Premium plan only)

   Pros

   • Free limited plan
   • Up to 2TB of storage

   Cons

   • Expensive paid plan
   • Slow on older devices

   Pricing

   Starts at $12/user/month Trial: Yes — 14-day Free Plan: Yes

5. 

   Mattermost — Good for technical teams

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android
   • Windows
   • Mac

   

   Mattermost is an open-source messaging and collaboration platform for teams. It’s designed to enable secure and flexible messaging, file sharing, and real-time communication among team members across an organization or project. 

   Mattermost can be hosted on-premises or in the cloud. It offers features such as customizable channels, integrations with third-party apps and services, and advanced search capabilities. It also includes support for voice and video calls, screen sharing, and threaded conversations. 

   Mattermost integrates with software development platforms like GitHub and Jira. It’s commonly used by businesses, developers, and organizations that require a more secure and customizable solution. The downside is that it’s more complex to set up and configure, especially for businesses that require integrations with other software.

   Learn more about Mattermost

   Key Features

   • Can be self-hosted or cloud-hosted
   • Unlimited teams, users, and file storage
   • Workplace messaging with file sharing
   • Group calls with screen share

   Pros

   • Lots of features, particularly for technical teams
   • Free-forever plan available

   Cons

   • Can be difficult to set up
   • Premium support costs extra

   Pricing

   Starts at $10/user/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: Yes

6. 

   Troop Messenger — Good for self-hosted team messaging

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android
   • Windows
   • Mac

   

   Troop Messenger is a team collaboration tool. It includes instant messaging, audio and video calling, group chat, file sharing, and remote screen sharing. 

   Troop Messenger can be installed on a company’s own premises or on Troop Messenger’s cloud servers. In addition, it includes features such as employee live location tracking, the ability to mute conversations, personalized chat backgrounds, and end-to-end encryption for data security. 

   Unfortunately, Troop Messenger can be expensive, especially when a team has many users. There’s also no free plan, and it’s more challenging to set up than most team messaging software, especially if the self-hosted option is chosen.

   Learn more about Troop Messenger

   Key Features

   • Self-hosted or cloud options
   • End-to-end encryption
   • Remote screen sharing
   • Voice and video calls

   Pros

   • Can be installed on site
   • Customizable wallpapers and fonts

   Cons

   • Relatively expensive
   • Complex setup process

   Pricing

   Starts at $2.5/user/month Trial: Yes Free Plan: No

7. 

   Chanty — Good for team task management

   Available on

   • Web
   • iOS
   • Android

   

   Chanty is a team collaboration tool with messaging, file sharing, and task management features. 

   It supports one-on-one and group messaging, where users can send messages to individuals or groups and create public or private channels to organize conversations. In addition, users can share files, images, and documents with their team members and search for files using keywords. It also has a task board in a Kanban view, so employees can discuss responsibilities, set due dates, and work together on projects. 

   Users can make voice and video calls within the app, allowing for real-time communication and collaboration. Chanty also supports up to 4K video definition, with up to 1,000 video participants and 49 videos on the screen at a time.

   On the other hand, Chanty has fewer integrations with third-party software than most team collaboration software. Its per-user pricing is also on the high side, making it an expensive option for larger businesses.

   Learn more about Chanty

   Key Features

   • One-to-one and group messaging
   • Kanban task board
   • Video and audio conferencing
   • File sharing

   Pros

   • Up to 4K video definition
   • Built-in task management tool

   Cons

   • Limited integrations with third-party tools
   • Poor customer support has been reported

   Pricing

   Starts at $2.55/user/month Trial: No Free Plan: Yes — Up to 10 team members